"I guarantee that will change this year," he said. "Guaranteed. No way I will go another year without an interception. It's impossible."

Smith might have thought he was going to be an interception machine after collecting two in the 2009 preseason. But the real games are different and the higher stakes obviously affected Smith's coverage plans.

"The first year I moved to corner from wide receiver, I had four [interceptions]," Smith said. "So I was like, 'It's not really that hard, I don't see how guys struggle.' Next year I had five. Then I had two in the preseason and I thought, 'We'll keep rolling.' But then you get in the game when it really counts and you don't want to be that guy that messes up.

"At times I was being a little bit too hesitant. And we were in some close, close games and if I gamble one time and I get beat, I'm like, 'No way. I'm not bearing that on my shoulder.' You can't play like that."

...

Smith is also being smarter about his body and training regimen.

...

He hopes that will help him avoid the letdown he felt the final five or six games of last year when he felt somewhat worn down.

I think Smith will be just fine this year. In my opinion he was our best corner last season. He was constantly asked to go up against the big guys like T.O. and Randy Moss all season long. That's a tough task for any cornerback. I think this season he will be ready to go.

He was constantly asked to go up against the big guys like T.O. and Randy Moss all season long. That's a tough task for any cornerback.

It was actually Davis who they had line up against Moss, Owens etc...

There are certain routes that Smith really struggles to cover particularly drags/slants across the middle. He smothers recievers and forces the QB to look the other way more often then not, but when the ball is thrown his way he has a tough time jumping the route an getting the interception. He uses his size to his advantage very well positioning himself to get the deflection when near the sidelines or on deeper routes. Smith does need to tackle better if he's looking to become a superstar, but i think his terrible tackler label is a little over-exagerated he's a cornerback bad tackling is to be expected.

_________________“We all stink. We're 0-6, everybody stinks. We’ve all, in some way, shape or form have not been good enough I don’t care if it’s the front-desk secretary — she ain’t doing a good enough job.”-Reggie Bush

I am not worried about the picks. Part of the reason why he did not have many is because they were afraid to throw in his direction.

I much rather have Smith have only one or two picks and play solid corner without a lot of pass interference penalties, than for him to have six or seven picks but he gets beat all the time and is constantly getting flagged.

He was constantly asked to go up against the big guys like T.O. and Randy Moss all season long. That's a tough task for any cornerback.

It was actually Davis who they had line up against Moss, Owens etc...

There are certain routes that Smith really struggles to cover particularly drags/slants across the middle. He smothers recievers and forces the QB to look the other way more often then not, but when the ball is thrown his way he has a tough time jumping the route an getting the interception. He uses his size to his advantage very well positioning himself to get the deflection when near the sidelines or on deeper routes. Smith does need to tackle better if he's looking to become a superstar, but i think his terrible tackler label is a little over-exagerated he's a cornerback bad tackling is to be expected.

Sean Smith is a football player. Tackling is part of being a good defensive football player, a complete defensive back, and he is not a good or physical tackler. That is not exaggerated.

Teams will begin to target Sean in the run game if he is not careful, as NFL team do pick up on players that will come up and support in the run game and DB's that shy away from contact.

While I will say he does need to work on his tackling, I would hope he thinks picks first.......Deon was never a good or even a solid tackler, but teams still were afraid of his (cb) skills.....NOW I'm not saying Smith is in that rare air with Deon, but if he plays the pass alot better this year then teams will have to go to the run more. And thats were we got them, make them 1dementional. With better (sf),(lb), and (dl) think Smith will have alot of help out there to make tackles......JMO

He was constantly asked to go up against the big guys like T.O. and Randy Moss all season long. That's a tough task for any cornerback.

It was actually Davis who they had line up against Moss, Owens etc...

There are certain routes that Smith really struggles to cover particularly drags/slants across the middle. He smothers recievers and forces the QB to look the other way more often then not, but when the ball is thrown his way he has a tough time jumping the route an getting the interception. He uses his size to his advantage very well positioning himself to get the deflection when near the sidelines or on deeper routes. Smith does need to tackle better if he's looking to become a superstar, but i think his terrible tackler label is a little over-exagerated he's a cornerback bad tackling is to be expected.

Sean Smith is a football player. Tackling is part of being a good defensive football player, a complete defensive back, and he is not a good or physical tackler. That is not exaggerated.

Teams will begin to target Sean in the run game if he is not careful, as NFL team do pick up on players that will come up and support in the run game and DB's that shy away from contact.

Ofcourse tackling is part of being a good defensive player, but if a corner back can cover well i'm not going to be too upset if he can't tackle a 230lbs RB. I can't name too many CB's that aren't a liability against the run. If he's covering someone allows a pass then misses a tackle that's when I would consider him a poor tackler for a corner, but not because he's hesitant to get trucked by someone who gets paid to put people on there butt for a living his job is to cover people.

_________________“We all stink. We're 0-6, everybody stinks. We’ve all, in some way, shape or form have not been good enough I don’t care if it’s the front-desk secretary — she ain’t doing a good enough job.”-Reggie Bush

He was constantly asked to go up against the big guys like T.O. and Randy Moss all season long. That's a tough task for any cornerback.

It was actually Davis who they had line up against Moss, Owens etc...

There are certain routes that Smith really struggles to cover particularly drags/slants across the middle. He smothers recievers and forces the QB to look the other way more often then not, but when the ball is thrown his way he has a tough time jumping the route an getting the interception. He uses his size to his advantage very well positioning himself to get the deflection when near the sidelines or on deeper routes. Smith does need to tackle better if he's looking to become a superstar, but i think his terrible tackler label is a little over-exagerated he's a cornerback bad tackling is to be expected.

I'm not really sure where you're getting your info from, especially when Sean Smith is listed ahead of Vontae on the depth chart. Smith was our #1 corner last year. He led the team in passes defended. Yes, Vontae did occasionally cover the big guys, but Smith was the guy going head to head most of the snaps. Vontae didn't become a starter last year until Will Allen went down. Smith clearly has the better cover skills in my opinion. That being said, Vontae is the better tackler. I think the two of them complement each other very well, but I believe that when week one comes Smith and Allen will be our starters.

I'm not really sure where you're getting your info from, especially when Sean Smith is listed ahead of Vontae on the depth chart. Smith was our #1 corner last year. He led the team in passes defended. Yes, Vontae did occasionally cover the big guys, but Smith was the guy going head to head most of the snaps. Vontae didn't become a starter last year until Will Allen went down. Smith clearly has the better cover skills in my opinion. That being said, Vontae is the better tackler. I think the two of them complement each other very well, but I believe that when week one comes Smith and Allen will be our starters.

I'm not debating who is the better corner or anything it's obvious that Smith has better overall cover skills and Davis is more agressive faster and the better tackler of the two, but it is fact that they lined up Davis against Big name recievers in our division for whatever reason despite where they were on the depth chart. Maybe they thought Welker and Evans were a bigger liability or that Davis speed and bump capabilities was better suited to cover them I can't say for sure, but i'm certain Davis was asked to line up against the #1 reciever a majority of the time. I've watched the games seen it first hand and i'm sure there are some people on here who can back me up on this.

_________________“We all stink. We're 0-6, everybody stinks. We’ve all, in some way, shape or form have not been good enough I don’t care if it’s the front-desk secretary — she ain’t doing a good enough job.”-Reggie Bush